Rack device



Jan. 5, 1960 J. o. EAMES 2,919,881

RACK DEVICE Filed Dec. 6, 1954 INVENTOR JAMEJ 0. EA MES ATTORNEYS United States Patent RACK DEVICE James O. Eames, Washington, Conn., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Ekco Products Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application December 6, 1954, Serial No. 473,101

4 Claims. (Cl. 248-290) This invention relates to hinged connections, and more particularly to hinged connections of the friction type adapted for use in connection with towel racks and the like provided with a wall bracket and one or more outwardly extending towel supporting armshingedly connected thereto and swung about in a horizontal plane to suit the convenience of the user.

Numerous racks of the above general type have been proposed, but in many of these constructions the hinge connections were either initially loose or tended to loosen quickly as soon as they were placed in service, and it is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a novel hinge construction which overcomes these difficulties.

Another object is to provide a hinge construction of the above type which can be economically manufactured and assembled.

A further object is the provision of simple means for retaining the bar in the hinge.

Still another object is the provision of auxiliary supporting means for supporting the bar in the event it is overloaded.

These and other objects of the invention will become more readily apparent when considered in light of the drawings and the following specification, which are not, however, to be considered as defining the limits of the invention, reference being had for this purpose to the appended claims.

In the drawings, wherein similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the towel bar assembly with one of the bars removed;

Fig. 2 is a rear view of the assembly shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of the hinge pin portion of one of the towelbars;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of the hinge pin portion of the bar taken along line 44 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the hinge hasps, and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view of a completed hinge assembly taken along line 6--6 of Fig. 2.

As shown in the drawings, and particularly in Fig. 1, the towel rack forming the subject matter of the present invention includes a bracket 4 adapted to be attached to the wall, and preferably formed of stamped sheet metal, U-shaped hinge hasps 5 secured to the front face of the bracket by cars 6 extending through openings 7 in the face of the bracket and bent over on the back side as shown in Fig. 2, and towel bars 8 having pintle or hinge pin portions 9 extending through and hingedly mounted in the hasps as shown. Although the rack illustrated is provided with three of these arms, the hinge construction is the same for each arm, and consequently only one hinge construction or mounting will be described.

A pair of spaced slits 10 are formed in the face of the bracket as shown, extending through the metal of the bracket and forming a resilient beam 11 integral with the bracket and connected thereto at either end as shown,

an outwardly extending nib 12 being formed in the center portion of the beam. The four openings 7 for the hasp ears 6 are spaced as shown, relative to each other and to the beam, the ears on the hasp being similarly spaced. Extending between the upper hasp openings and the lower hasp openings respectively are arcuate stop portions 13 formed in the face of the bracket and integral therewith, these forming arcuate bearing surfaces which are positioned outwardly from the outer face of the bracket, as indicated more fully in Fig. 6.

The towel bar is formed preferably with a diamondshaped cross-section having concave walls as shown. The pintle pin portion 9 of the bar is bent at right angles to the bar proper, and is machined, as by means of a hollow end mill, to an outside diameter less than that of the main portion of the bar, thus providing four spaced arcuate bearing portions 14 on the pintle pin as indicated in the enlarged view shown in Fig. 4. A groove 15 is formed on the pin intermediate the ends, the bottom of the groove being a cylindrical surface concentric with the four arcuate surfaces 14.

The hasp 5 has an arcuate portion 16 at its closed end, this portion being cylindrical and having substantially the same radius as that of the arcuate surfaces 14 on the pintle pin. Shoulders 17 and 19 on the hasp adjacent the ears 6 abut the outer face of the bracket when the hasp is assembled thereto, thus accurately positioning the arcuate surface 16 of the hasp relative to the outer surface of the bracket.

During assembly of the towel rack, the pintle pin is inserted in the arcuate portion of the hasp, and the four ears 6 are inserted in the bracket openings 7, the pintle pin being positioned with the groove in line with the nib 12 on beam 11. The hasp is held with the shoulders 17 and 19 in engagement with the face of the bracket, and the ears 6 are then bent outwardly and against back side of the bracket as shown in Fig. 2. The nib thus enters the groove 15 as shown in Fig. 6 and prevents removal of the pin from the hasp.

It is very desirable in devices of this type that the pintle pin be frictionally restrained against rotation in the hasp, and to this end, the parts are so dimensioned that during assembly of the parts as described above and shown in Fig. 6, the bottom of groove 15 engages nib 12 and forces it inwardly slightly relative to the face of the bracket, thus deflecting the resilient beam 11. Thus the nib 12 bears at all times on the bottom of groove 15, and maintains the arcuate pintle pin surfaces in frictional engagement with the arcuate bearing portion 16 of the hasp.

The arcuate bearing portion of the hasp extends through an arc of 180, and since the arcuate pintle pin portions 14 are spaced apart and extend through an appreciable arc, two or more of these are always maintained in frictional engagement with the arcuate bearing surface of the hasp over at least part of their surfaces, depending on the position to which the pin has been rotated in the hasp. With this arrangement, the pin always rotates smoothly in the hasp but at the same time is restrained against rotation by its frictional engagement therewith. The arcuate stop portions 13 formed on the face of the bracket are so dimensioned and positioned as to be normally spaced slightly from the arcuate surfaces 14 of the pintle pin during rotation of the latter, as shown in Fig. 6. In the event an overload is applied to the bar in an upward or downward direction suflicient to deflect the beam 11 inwardly and permit the pintle pin to move from the position shown in Fig. 6 to a position wherein its axis is at an angle to the axis of the arcuate surface 16 on the hasp, one of the arcuate surfaces 14 of the pin will engage one or the other of the arcuate stops 13 to prevent further angular displacement of the pin from the vertical position shown. "When the bar is moved to a position parallel to the face of the bracket, the hasp prevents such deflection of the pintle p111.

From the foregoing, it will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that a simple and efficient hinge construction has been provided for mounting a towel bar on a bracket. The nib 12 engages groove 15 to prevent appreciable axial movement of the pin in the hasp and to thus lock it in place against removal from the bracket. Since the nib and the resilient beam of which it is a part are deflected inwardly during assembly, the pintle pin and arm are at all times frictionally restrained against rotation by the frictional engagement of the nib 12 with the pin at the bottom of groove 15 and by the frictional engagement of the arcuate pin surfaces 14 with the bearing surface 16 of the hasp. The'shoulders 17 and 19 on the haspsinsureproper spacing of the bearing surface 16 relative to the nib 12 and to the arcuate stop surfaces 13, and the ears 6 on the hasp, when bent over as shown on the back side of the bracket, provide means for attaching the hasps securely to the bracket with the bearing surface 16 properly spaced from the outer face of the bracket.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the invention is not limited to the specific form illustrated and described, but may be embodied in other equivalent forms within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A towel rack of the swinging arm type including a bracket for supporting the arm, a pintle pin on the arm having an arcuate bearing portion and a groove in the pintle pin, a hasp attached to the face of the bracket and having an arcuate bearing portion adapted to hingedly engage and support the arcuate bearing portion of said pintle pin, and means for retaining said pintle pin in said hasp with said bearing portion in frictional engagement therewith including a sheared portion of said bracket which is offset to provide a projection having entrance to the groove in the pin, said sheared portion being normally stressed to resiliently press the pin toward the surface of the hasp opposite said sheared portion.

2. A towel rack in accordance with claim 1, wherein said groove in the pintle pin is located midway of the ends of said pin.

3. A towel rack in accordance with claim 1, wherein said groove in the pintle pin is located intermediate of the ends of the pin and the area of the bracket opposite said pintle pin and flanking the sheared. portion is offset in the direction of the pintle pin to provide stops for engagement by the pintle pin upon a pre-determined deflection of said sheared portion toward the bracket.

4. A towel rack in accordance with claim 3, wherein said stops are of arcuate contour about axes parallel to said pintle pin.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 417,959 Welton Dec. 24, 1889 1,713,704 Lobel May 21, 1929 1,942,663 Saunders Jan. 9, 1934 2,037,303 Battee Apr. 14, 1936 FOREIGN PATENTS 421,233 Great Britain Dec. 17, 1934 615,300 Great Britain of 1949 

